White House Solar Panels

The United States Department of Energy is seeking bids for a 5-15 kilowatt photovoltaic system for the White House. It is hoped the system will produce about 20 megawatts a year to supply power to the facility. "This project reflects President Obama's strong commitment to U.S. leadership in solar energy and the jobs it will create here at home," said Energy Secretary Steven Chu. "Deploying solar-energy technologies across the country will help America lead the global economy for years to come."

Learn more from the MarketWatch article.

During George W. Bush's term solar panels were installed to power the White House pool heater and a maintenance building. In the late 1970s, Jimmy Carter had a solar water heating system installed that the next president Ronald Reagan had removed.

Hail to solar power, baby!

Do It Yourself Solar

This video on YouTube has a homeowner describing how he installed a Harbor Freight Solar System. In the video he says the system has been used for more than a year to power two lights in the house. Looking at the Harbor Freight web site they have a solar panel kit for $200 that looks similar to what he is using. A person still needs to get a battery and power inverter.

If I got one of these I think I would try using a DC-DC (direct current) converter to power the computer router/Internet/battery chargers from the DC battery since all these devices use DC instead of AC (alternating current). Also try to find LED lights that use DC instead of converting AC.

Bowling Green School Goes Solar!

Article on the Courier Journal website entitled "Solar panels go up at Ky. elementary school" tells of how Richardsville Elementary School of Bowling Green, Kentucky is becoming a "net-zero" building. They have begun installing 2,700 photovoltaic panels as part of a $2.4 million project. These panels will provide electricity to the school and if there is a surplus back to the power grid to be used for needs in the surrounding area. Other energy saving measures are heavy insulation used in the building and a geothermal cooling/heating system.

The project is being done by Morton Solar and Wind and Advanced Electrical Systems. It is estimated on a sunny day the panels can produce 2.5 megawatts of electricity an hour or enough to power 50 homes. If that quote is right the average home uses 50 kilowatt (I am guessing a day)?

Making Your Own Solar Electric Cell

This YouTube video documents a person making a solar cell using copper sheets, a oven, and some salt water. It produces very little electricity and as the author points out the power used to create the cell would take 48,000,000 hours for the cell to regenerate! Learn more at the author's web site: rimstar.org



Here is another video made by a group of students at the University of Notre Dame doing something very similar.